


Tidbits & Tarot: Pentacles

by Five_star_hellhole



Series: Tidbits and Tarot [1]
Category: Cassandra Palmer Series - Karen Chance
Genre: F/M, M/M, Tarot, Tarot Cards, each chapter a stand alone, each chapter will be based on a tarot card, first multichapter fic, lets see how this goes, probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-08-08 05:06:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 5,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16422965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Five_star_hellhole/pseuds/Five_star_hellhole
Summary: erratically updated (lol), posting whenever the mood strikes.Each chapter will be based on a card and will follow different characters and situations. I will break it down into 5 different collections between the minor and major cards. The minor cards (Pentacles, Swords, Cups, Wands) will each have 14 chapters. The major cards will have their own story. This isnt a big fic but a collection of mini fics that will each stand alone... probably. I may do a multi chapter or base a minor card type on one story but who knows.If you have any prompts, please leave them in a comment on the fic and I’ll see what I can do.





	1. Ace of Pentacles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pentacles is the suit of all things worldly and material; associated with security, stability, nature, health, and prosperity. The pentacles are of earth element.

**Ace of Pentacles**

**Upright:** opportunity, prosperity, new venture, **Reversed:** lost opportunity, missed chance, bad investment

 

Cassie was so sick and tired of the sticky Atlanta summers... and autumns, and winters and the all year long swampy humidity. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she pulled her damp and slightly rank T-shirt away from her neck as she walked down a sidewalk along the seedier side of downtown.

She had worked all night at the bar to make a few extra bucks reading tarot but all she got out of it was a headache, enough money for maybe a quick breakfast, and groped (or at least the attempt) enough times under her table that all she wanted to do was scrub herself clean and figure out what to do next. She was tired of barely making ends meet and was in desperate need of a second job or a roommate, possibly both.

Cassie sighed, her cash on hand was getting dangerously low and if she had to skip town again soon she would have enough money to buy a ticket that could maybe get her as far as her front stoop. Things were going to get desperate soon, or at least more desperate. 

Cassie sped up a bit as she neared her little apartment, walking home at 4am was not her idea of a good time. She could hardly keep her eyes open as she climbed up the front steps to her building, too little sleep and too little food was catching up to her. She had barely thought that before her foot missed the edge of the next step and she stumbled forward, grasping for the handrail but fingers sliding off, the metal ringing slightly as her fingernails hit the edge before slipping passed it, the humidity making the old worn metal slick as ice. 

Cassie sprawled across the top step, landing hard on one knee as her purse flew forward and dumped all over the landing. She started to groan as she saw the tarot deck had tumbled out and a few cards had peeked. She quickly reached over and started slamming them back in before their high pitched nagging turned her headache into a migraine. She had just barely got it all back in before she realized she could hear the sickeningly sweet tone of a card begin playing from just beyond the landing, she sighed as she peeled her bloody knee and scrapped dignity off the stone, swung her purse on her shoulder, and stumbled into the foyer. Once passed the doors, the sweet whispering had turned into a slightly raised arrogance as a card started spouting off about new beginnings and such nonsense. Cassie picked it up and slammed it into its box. She was done with that right now. Tarot could wait, she needed to try to find a way to not starve to death over the next week- the jar of pickles and half a donut weren’t long for this world once she got up to her place. She hadn’t figured out what she would do once those ran out.

Cassie rubbed a hand across her face and started the long walk up to the fifth floor of her building so she could finally pass out for the day before she would need to be back at the bar that evening to cover another girl’s shift she had been lucky enough to snag. 

As she slowly trekked up the stairs, her mouth twisted slightly as she thought about that stupid card. Ace of pentacles indeed. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, riches and new beginnings were unlikely in her life. She would be lucky to survive her current attempt at a new beginning. 

By the fourth floor she was ready to just sleep in the sweltering stairwell, she normally would have taken the opposite staircase which at least had some windows to let in air but after having to scrounge that useless tarot card from by the mailboxes, she had just decided to take the one closest. She had just reached the fifth floor, her eyes nearly closed, when her foot hit something and the sound of paper crinkling made her look down. 

Stupid flyers, she thought. Someone had been peppering the apartments again, probably another phone sex scam. She ground her foot against it slightly before continuing one. She had barely made it a step before she realized the damn thing was stuck to her. With an annoyed groan she bent over and grabbed it off the bottom of her shoe, she was about to crumple it into a ball and toss it before she noticed the professional look of it and the picture of beaches. Brows furrowed, she pulled it flat again and began to read. By the time she finished she was racing to her apartment, unlocking the door and rushing in, barely remembering to lock it before she started rummaging through her closet.

As quickly as she could, she started pulling out her best clothes to put something slightly respectable together. The flyer said they opened at 8am and she was damn well going to be put together and ready because there was no god damn way she was missing the opportunity for a desk job with normal hours and decent pay- she had never been a secretary before but she damn well was going to be now.

By the time 9am rolled around Cassie was walking out of the little travel agency with a new job set up to start the next day. She couldn’t stop the smile on her face as she walked back to her apartment. Looks like she wouldn’t be starving this week.


	2. Two of Pentacles

**Two of Pentacles**

****Upright:**** balancing decisions, priorities, adapting to change, **Reversed:** loss of balance, disorganized, overwhelmed

 

Marco ground his teeth as he stomped back into the suite. He couldn’t keep doing this. Between the Master, the Senate, the demon attacks, all the  _other_ attacks, keeping the kids safe, keep Cassie  _alive_ , and all the fucking gods popping up like a demented version of wack-a-mole, he just couldn’t do it anymore. He had officially reached the end of his rope. 

He looked around the suite and found himself blessedly alone, or at least as alone as you could get here. At the very least alone with himself and the vamps on guard for the night. A quick glance at the clock found it to be 2am, most of their living charges seemed to have retreated to their own beds. He blew air noisily out his nose before continuing on to the patio. Since the move to the penthouse, there was actually room to spread out and, occasionally, you could find yourself a semiprivate spot.

He threw himself onto a deck chair, the metal groaning under the abuse, and tilted his head back.

He was scared, terrified even. He couldn’t admit that out loud but it was the truth. Ares. Fucking Ares. Once upon a time, he had worshipped him. Literally. As a Roman soldier you prayed to Ares hoping he would spare you in the next battle or bless you to the Elysian Fields if you fell. He closed his eyes briefly, it’s not everyday you get to hear about the diety you once worshipped was actually around. Though to be honest, not that surprised that particular one wanted to dominate this realm.

Marco hummed to himself for a second before shaking his head as if to rattle out anymore morose musings. 

He was glad Ares was destroyed. The warmongering ass deserved it, not just for what he did to Cassie and threatened to do to this world but for all those that butchered in his name trying to seek a fake promise of paradise and glory centuries ago.

The longer he sat there though the more he knew he was lying to himself, at least about being done. He glanced briefly back towards the rooms, listening to the soft breathing and steady heartbeats of his kids. He didn’t care that he was a vampire and that they were part of the Pythia court and his Master most definitely wasn’t (if the latest gossip was true), they were his. He had been a master in his own right for a long time, those here in Las Vegas that had been forged in the fires of the chaos that constantly surrounded this hotel room were a family. Vampires, humans, witches, hell even that porcupine war mage were all his. He sometimes felt like he was ripping at the seams but he would be damned before he let his family down again.

With a sigh, Marco got off the chair and returned to inside the suite, he would check the rooms and floors again for threats- a near obsessive habit he now had that was done almost every spare moment he had. Too many close calls, too many near misses. He gave a nod to the guards at the door before starting his perimeter check, he had assigned some of his brothers to do it but he always went over it afterwards, he didn’t care if it pissed them off. He would never risk his family, not again. His next task now was how to find a way to tell Mircea that he was leaving the family so he could offer his loyalties to the Pythian Court. That was sure to go over well.

He had a promise to keep, he thought, before steeling himself for that impending confrontation. No matter how things went, he planned on watching over his family. Because no matter where _they_ went he was going to make sure that ever single one of those girls lived long and happy lives, or so help him he would reign down hell on earth and no one would need to wait for the old gods to do it.

 

 


	3. Three of Pentacles

**Three** **of** **Pentacles**

 **Upright:** teamwork, collaboration, building, **Reversed:** lack of teamwork, disorganized, group conflict

 

You would think this would be an unfair game, thought Rhea, as she surveyed the precariously built Jenga tower. She wasn’t even sure how all this started, well that wasn’t strictly true. It had started by Fred bringing back an armful of board games to the suite for the girls to play with during the few moments of calm that happened. The girls had been ecstatic, never before being allowed to do such things as it served no purpose in their training. 

Then the girls went to bed, leaving Rhea, Tami, and that night’s guards standing around. The bedrooms door had just barely shut behind Rhea, once she had tucked her court into bed, before Fred was once again walking an armful of something into the suite from the kitchen- this time bottles of whiskey and something clear from dirty glass bottles. After a quick explanation, Fred had handed over a bottle of whiskey to each of the vamps and they had started chugging. Rhea had briefly glanced at Tami, who had a perfectly plucked eyebrow raised in confusion, before Fred started explaining.

Forty-five minutes later the Jenga game was still going. The vamps keeping a steady supply of liquor, this time something that smelled like kerosene though a deceptively clear liquid, going in. Fred had said it was the only way to put them all on the same playing field so their abilities didn’t unfairly let them win. Which is how the first game was still being played, stone cold sober humans and stumbling drunk vamps. Rhea had to admit, it was pretty hilarious. She hadn’t laughter that hard in a long time when she witnessed Rico trip over his own foot and slam face first into the ground when he went to take his next turn. Whatever were in those bottles must have been strong, she had no idea what it was- the label in a bizarre language she had never seen and the bottle slightly dusted by sand, but it must have been strong to get Rico drunk.

All in all, it was the best night of her life. She felt comfortable and safe, something she hadn’t had in a long time. It also helped that Rico didn’t seem to realize his shirt had ridden up his stomach and gotten caught on one of his holsters that hung at his side. She had to admit, she hoped he didn’t notice for a while more. The half exposed abs were something she was trying to commit to memory and kept wanting to reach out to touch. Tami didn’t help any, once she had seen Rhea looking she had decided it was her mission to try to get the shirt the rest of the way off. So far her attempts had failed, though Rhea was mortified to know she was disappointed about that. 

She had no sooner thought that before Tami stepped forward, beer in hand, and went to grab her piece from the tower before it would be Rhea’s turn. Just as she stepped away, another piece successfully pulled, Tami stumbled, her beer flying from her hand and soaking Rico from the neck down. Tami stammered an apology as she grabbed his shirt and began pulling it over his head. Rico just huffed a laugh, taking his holster off so she could finish pulling off the T-shirt, stumbling slightly as he straightened back up sans shirt and went to take another swing from the bottle the guys had started calling “Demon Juice”.

Rhea had to disagree though, watching that strong neck swallow that heaven sent liquor as Tami walked over to her, as sure footed as ever, with the wet shirt folded in one hand before being placed on a chair. It most definitely wasn’t “Demon Juice”.

Rhea had a hard time thinking about much else for the rest of the night, too busy taking in the sights to bother with anything else, though she did notice how absurdly pleased Tami looked every time she glanced over and saw Rhea’s face. Women had to stick together and, apparently, Jenga wasn’t the only game being played tonight.

 


	4. Four of Pentacles

**Four of Pentacles**

**Upright:** conservation, frugality, security, **Reversed:** greediness, stinginess, possessiveness

 

Mircea hadn’t moved in hours, sitting on the edge of his bed with his faced turned slightly to the wall. He wasn’t allowing himself to, he had to remain controlled. He had arrived in Pennsylvania mere hours ago to investigate what Rafi had insinuated. Hours that drastically changed everything. Gone were the plans he had painstakingly put together; they no longer mattered. Now though, now he needed new ones.

If he had been alive, his heart surely would have stopped beating once he came to realize the small shy girl hidden away with his first child had all the makings of a strong clairvoyant. Little Cassie was changing his world and for the first time in centuries he felt the beginnings of true hope. He would need to be careful, cultivate the trust and bonds necessary to ensure her loyalty to him. Already his mind thinking of safeguards and contingencies to protect the girl and increase his chances of her inheriting the position he so desperately needed her to. 

The smallest twitch in his left hand was the only outward sign his body had had in hours, the near obsessive urge he had to grab her and tuck her away into his court clawed at his throat. Ever fiber of his being was demanding he chain her to his side but he hadn’t been a slave to his urges in a very long time. Still...

He couldn’t risk her at his court, she was bound to be discovered and stolen from him the moment the Circle even heard a whisper of her. No. No he couldn’t allow that to happen. 

Mircea continued to sit there for hours before his mind was made up. The first blink of his eyes clearing away the faraway look, replacing it with an intense determination. With a small nod he stood up and began to put his first plan into motion. He would need to lay the ground work but he was confident in his ability to endear himself to the girl. Once that was accomplished he would need to find a mage, a competent one who knew the value of silence. He wasn’t taking any chances, the girl would be protected- from the world and herself. He just needed to make sure she was the perfect vessel when the time came for the power to pass.

Mircea left the bedroom in search of Cassie, thinking of all the ways he would make sure that she bonded to him and he could finally get what he had waited for for so long.


	5. Five of Pentacles

**Five of Pentacles**

**Upright:** need, poverty, insecurity, **Reversed:** recovery, charity, improvement

 

Billy woke gasping for breath, heart pounding ready to burst. He didn’t know what was happening, the rough material surrounding him had little give as he struggled to push it off. He felt trapped, what the hell was happening?!

A sharp hit to his ribs broke a groan from his lips as pain reverberated through his body, skating along nerves and inflaming other wounds he hadn’t even noticed.

”Shut it! Ya goddamn bogtrotten dogun.” Was slurred at him from above. “Youse think ya can cheat us? Ya fuckin’ earned this. See ya around, Donny-boy” 

Cold fear shot through Billy followed by terrifying enlightenment. The game. The cards he played with that group of drunken hillbillies. He had won too many times, he remembered fists flying and trying to fight his way to the door until he suddenly didn’t remember anything at all.

A sack. He was in a burlap sack. His mind blanked as he suddenly realized where he was and what could only be happening.

”Pl... please. I. I didn’t! Just had some luck! Please don’t!” Billy begged through the fabric, struggling more and more.

”Fuck off, ya knacker.” Was spit at him before a sudden shove had him yelling as he felt himself free fall through the air. His mind whiting out in panic before the sudden slap into water startled him to action. A bare gulp of air was all he could grab before the bag, and him, slipped below the surface. The pressure of the water making the rough material cling to him like a second skin. The nearest river was only so deep, if he could get out he could make it back up, he thought desperately. But the more he clawed at the bag, the less it gave until his lungs began to burn and his head began to spin. His last thought as his back hit the bed of the river was not even a thought at all, but the memory of a pair of brown eyes staring at him as his mother waved to him from shore. A sudden desperate gasp stopped him as his limbs became unresponsive, his need for air outweighing everything else.

The water only burned for a second before he wasn’t thinking much of anything anymore.

 

 

 

 


	6. Six of Pentacles

**Six of Pentacles**

**Upright:** charity, generosity, sharing, **Reversed:** strings attached, stinginess, power and domination

 

Cassie snuggled up to Pritkin on the bed in his room, her’s much too chaotic to be a place she felt she could truly relax anymore. She shifted closer as Pritkin lifted his left arm and she slid under it and laid her head on his chest before he wrapped the arm around her, pulling her the last few millimeters until there was no daylight between them. 

She settled down comfortably, the crook of his shoulder practically made for her by how well she fit there. Perfect, she sighed. 

It had been a long day of senate, circle, coven, and demon council balancing. Trying to find a way to get that group to work together properly was giving her migraine a migraine. Pritkin had actually been the one to call it for the night, ending the meeting with a shouted expletive and telling everyone to get their shit together and stop pissing around before tossing the lot of them out of the conference room. Or tried to. Mainly he told them to fuck off and to get their heads on straight for the morning. Shortly after that everyone had filtered out, infuriated but compliant. Cassie did not look forward to the morning.

With that thought she decided to just stop thinking completely. Overrated.

Neither one of them had said much when they got back, Cassie showering quickly in her room before joining him; a nightly routine that had developed since his return. Pritkin seemed to be fine but she... well she was lucky to make it a few hours before the nightmares of bright green eyes turning to dust from cursed timelines would bolt her awake. After the third night where she had popped into his room and he woke up to light touch of her hand somewhere on him as she reassured herself he was still there, he had grabbed her and dragged her into bed tucking her up close.

Pritkin had never said a word about it and she was grateful. Cassie was pretty sure he was too, not that he would admit it. But those mornings saw him more calm and relaxed then he had been... ever, or at least that’s what Marco had remarked upon one morning when Pritkin had calmly responded to an accident that would have normally sent his blood pressure soaring. Marco had also made enough innuendos to even have Fred sputtering. Cassie had just rolled her eyes and walked away. Truth be told, they hadn’t done anything those nights or any nights for the last two weeks this had been happening. Oh the urge was there but she had a feeling they were both cautiously testing the waters before diving in.

Tonight though... tonight she might just dip her toes in the deep end. With that thought, Cassie lightly trailed her fingers along his stomach, following the dips and grooves across muscles and dragging her fingers down chest hair. She was so caught up in mapping him to memory that she didn’t notice right away him doing the same along her back and side with the hand curled around her. 

She glanced up quickly to find him staring at her with heated eyes, a small smile curved her lips as she turned his head towards her and pressed a light kiss along his jaw. That was all the permission he was waiting for, with a turn of his body he was crushing her to him and covering her mouth in bruising kisses, possessing her. Cassie pushed right back, kissing harder as the kiss deepened, her hands now grasping his hair to chain him to her. A groan passed her lips as she arched against him, his hand sliding down her hip then leg, smoothing down freshly shaved legs.

Pritkin pulled back suddenly, a scant inch if that, breathing hard and looking into her eyes.

”Tell me. Tell me what you want. If you don’t want this, tell me now. I... I won’t be able to control myself if we keep going.” Pritkin whispered in a pained voice. Cassie looked at him, at the black eyes barely rimmed in green before she smiled and pressed her forehead against his. She knew what her answer was and her incubus was nothing for her to fear.

Cassie brought her fingertips to his face, caressing the stubble covered cheek. “You’re mine, John Pritkin, of course I want you” she stated bluntly leaving no room for argument. She didn’t just want ‘this’, she wanted him. She wanted her prickly war mage for who he was not _what_ he was. In that moment Cassie vowed that she would make sure to never give even the slightest slip in her words to dismiss who he was or ignore that when he was saying “this” that it wasn’t about an act, he was asking if she wanted him. Something denied to him by all those before her.

The twitch of his lips into a small smile was her only warning before he was kissing her again. No, no there would be no going back and no choosing someone else. He was her’s and she was his.


	7. Seven of Pentacles

**Seven of Pentacles**

**Upright:** hard work, perseverance, diligence, **Reversed:** work without results, distractions, lack of rewards

 

Rosier sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Maybe if I press hard enough, the realm will give me a break.” he thought sarcastically. He rose from the seat that he had flung himself into once returned from earth and began to pace in his rooms.

His stubborn fool of a son was determined to kill himself slowly. 

Emrys should have broke by now! No sane _being_  let alone the _heir to the incubi court_ should be able to go years let alone _decades_ without starving and fading away! Ever since Emrys’ arrogance over a century ago and the death of his ‘wife’, the boy was determined to die just to spite him.

Three hundred years he tried for a child! Years of trying every possible _damn_ combination of beings to beget an heir and the universe curses him with a stubborn child who rejects the very thing that was the reason for his birth! 

Rosier grabbed a bottle of wine left by the bed and chugged as regally as he could until the bottle was empty before leaning back against the wall, head thumping lightly. He wasn’t positive what he did to deserve a child that embodied pigheadedness and chaos as his did, but he suspected it was a curse bestowed on him from their old adversaries as one final insult before their banishment.

If this kept up, he would be the first incubus with wrinkles... and grey hair.

He would need to take action soon, with each visit he could sense the growing weakness in Emrys. The clawing starvation at the core of his being was reaching desperate levels. If he thought he could get away with it, without Emrys killing him, he would hold him down and force feed him. 

Rosier sighed again, he thought he was doing that a lot lately. 

He knew what he had to do and he didn’t care what it would take, his son would be getting an intervention soon. He would wait until Emrys’ return from his latest ‘assignment’, he thought with a sardonic twist of his lips. It was time for his child to stop playing at war mage and remember who and _what_ he was. Once Emrys returned from his little courier task to the vampire senate, Rosier would be stepping in. His son would no longer be doing whatever he wished, he had duties to attend to.

 


	8. Eight of Pentacles

Eight of Pentacles

 **Upright:** apprenticeship, passion, high standards, **Reversed:** lack of passion, uninspired, no motivation

 

Cassie was enjoying every second ticking by as she haphazardly looked at the little red clock on the bedside table. She would be practically giddy if she had the energy for it. This morning, as far as she was concerned, was a momentous occasion. You see, she had had  _ **seven**_ uninterrupted calm hours.

It was glorious.

She snuggled further into her blanket and kept one eye on the clock. For someone who controlled time, you think she would have a better ability to demand what she did with it. The badly kept secret was that the Pythia didn’t control time, she was a slave to it. Which meant, when she could actually take some time to herself, she was damn sure to appreciate ever fading second of it.

Cassie breathed a sign of relief as she felt her soul untwist. She had been jumping from cliff’s edge to cliff’s edge, tumbling through time slips, and falling into one chaotic event to the next, the _fact_ that she hadn’t been pulled from bed yet to deal with the next impending insanity was a pleasant surprise.

Sure, she still had a jilted ex-lover... husband? Self-obsessed boyfriend? And a new... someone, she still wasn’t sure what to label her half crazed war mage as, but she had him. If she let herself think about those two and the impending shit-show when her war mage half-demon prince and her ex-seething-and-possessive-vampire-prince collide... well her left eye kept twitching when she did so she steadfast refused to think about it... much.

She was oddly grateful for the war at the moment, at the very least it had given her some time where those two hadn’t encountered each other yet.

Her eyes flicked back towards the clock.  

Of course, later tonight was the meeting between all their allies to further plan for the invasion of faerie. 

Cassie chewed her lips, the meeting would be fine she mused. After though, after might be a different story. She watched the seconds tick by some more and sunk farther into the bed. 

She would take the calm while she could, she had a feeling tonight would make up for it. Until then, well she would lay here until someone came and pried her body from the cocoon she had wrapped herself in.

The cocoon was safe.

The cocoon was warm.

The cocoon didn’t judge.

She was one with the cocoon. 

The silence in the room was calming from her pile of blankets, the only sound the ticking of the clock next to her bed. It was quite possible, she thought, that maybe this wasn’t as relaxing as she originally assumed. The ticking of the clock had taken on a definite smug tone the more she lay there and thought about what was coming tonight. Maybe it was time to get up and emotionally prepare herself for the impending fuckery of later. 

On the other hand, she could stay here and repress everything until forced to deal with it.

Cassie liked that idea. 

She liked that idea a lot. 

Just a little longer, she promised herself. Then. Then she would deal with life and leave the cocoon. She just needed a little more time before doing so. Her eyes flicked back to the clock. Just a little more time then she would be ready.

She was well aware she was lying to herself. She had never controlled time before, it was unlikely she would be able to now. Time was already decided for her, she knew she really was just waiting and poised for the next bit of madness that would be thrown her way. But until then... until then she was one with the cocoon.

 


	9. Nine of Pentacles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but now back from the holidays! To Silvercranes, thanks for the prompt!

**Nine of Pentacles**

**Upright:** fruits of labor, rewards, luxury, **Reversed:** reckless spending, living beyond means, false success

 

She was pleased, perhaps for the first time in months, she mused. Time had long become meaningless, as unimportant and indistinguishable to her senses as individual grains of sands in the desert. 

However, this development shimmered like an oasis.

She reached a hand out and lightly grasped the stem of a crystal goblet from the table beside her lounge, the light aroma of vitality and iron rising from it. She slowly and carefully brought it to her lips and drank, the rich taste coating her tongue as she gave a small sip. She had never been one to be uncouth enough to take more than a sip at a time. 

Cleopatra, she thought, some habits transcend all. She remembered her human life as one would contemptously remember a period of shame and loathing. For all of her power in that age, it paled to her capabilities and influence she wielded now. Her history she rarely acknowledged, a period of weakness that gave no relevance to her current time.

She had distracted herself again, she realized. A slight twitch to her right eyebrow was the only outward sign of her irritation. Her mind was sluggish at the moment making her maudlin. The state of her court and surrounding world had long since become a burden. Regardless, she did not plan to leave it yet.

She brought her attention back to the scene in front of her, replacing her goblet on the gold lined mosaic table next to her. To an outsider the move was precise and graceful she knew, to her she was inattentive and dismissive with her actions. She had never deigned to be anything but the epitome of grace, even when human. Being surrounded by those who had to try to be as she was naturally had long ago became an irritation. Now it was nothing more than continual proof she was meant to rule... everything. 

She had drifted again, she nearly sighed, the present was so difficult to pay attention to. She had seen the same story, issue, war play out over and over. The repetition of the living was a trial, one she was loath to give her time. However, some things were more engaging than others, the consul sniffed internally.

For the first time in months she felt her interest pique, games and political intrigue one of her few remaining joys and this, this had the beginnings of each.

The consul surveyed the bumbling mage who knelt on the white marble floor in front of her, listening to his tale of a rogue Pythian prospect that had been in hiding deep within one of her servant’s courts. Marlowe stood a few steps behind the human, looking smug in a crushed red velvet blazer.

Her spider. 

His web had found this information, information her other subordinate should have brought forth.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, vivid glowing brown surrounded by deep kohl. Mircea would need to be watched closer, if this information was true, he could very well be positioning himself for her throne. 

Upstart child.

Still, she mused, it had been decades since she had had even the slightest competent challenger worth her attention. 

She locked eyes with Marlowe, who nodded in return. He would watch the diplomat, find what else he had been up to and bring it to her. She was looking forward to it, the fingers of her left hand caressing the golden perch she reclined on, each finger burdened with platinum rings of precious jewels. 

She so hoped he was up to something, maybe that particular little grain of sand would enrapture her for a small time before the monotony of time dragged her back down and her apathy for this world surged forward once more. 

Her spider would find something on the backwoods prince, she knew, royal intrigue was one of those constants she suffered through. Luckily one she found amusing from time to time. But, a prince stood no chance against a queen. And she had never stopped being just that. 

Time to play, young prince, time to play.


End file.
